Is Millennium Dumping Toronto's Trespass, Starring Kidman and Cage?

Poor Nic Cage can't get a break from Millennium Entertainment. He co-stars with Nicole Kidman as husband and wife in Joel Schumacher's R-rated heist thriller Trespass, which is making its debut at the Toronto Film Festival (trailer below). The movie is scheduled to be released by Millennium Entertainment (formerly First Look) on October 14 in theaters and on VOD, followed a bit too swiftly by a Blu-ray release on November 1. "Millennium Entertainment will release TRESPASS on October 14, 2011 in theaters and at home – rent it with your remote control," invites the press release.

Poor Nic Cage can't get a break from Millennium Entertainment. He co-stars with Nicole Kidman as husband and wife in Joel Schumacher's R-rated heist thriller Trespass, which is making its debut at the Toronto Film Festival (trailer below). The movie is scheduled to be released by Millennium Entertainment (formerly First Look) on October 14 in theaters and on VOD, followed a bit too swiftly by a Blu-ray release on November 1. "Millennium Entertainment will release TRESPASS on October 14, 2011 in theaters and at home – rent it with your remote control," invites the press release.

This is how Millennium rolls. And it may be the future--even for major movie stars.

Millennium's B-movie king CEO Lerner did similar math on Werner Herzog's Cage vehicle Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which deserved a far more robust theatrical release based on its upbeat fall fest reviews, but was unceremoniously dumped into a few cities en route to video. Lerner has strong feelings about not overspending on theatrical and not giving movies to other distributors. Trespass has tested well with some audiences and yet, as I understand it, was never screened for other buyers. (Lerner was not available for comment, as he was still recovering from his cover story in THR weekly.)

What happens if the movie plays well in Toronto and gets good reviews? Judging from the trailer, I have to say it looks like an unpleasant sit. But Schumacher is a gifted thrill-meister (Falling Down) and these are strong actors. The movie is playing the fest to launch the film in Canada and possibly boost sales in remaining unsold territories. What happens at TIFF is unlikely to budge Lerner from his release plan.